The history of the SWX Swiss Exchange

The SWX Swiss Exchange was founded in 1993 as "Schweizer Börse/Bourse Suisse/Borsa Svizzera/Swiss Exchange". It introduced electronic trading in 1995/1996. But its roots stretch back further. It proceeded from the Vereinigung Schweizerischer Börsen (VSB) and the floor-based stock exchanges of Zurich, Geneva and Basel.

13th Century

The earliest traces of a financial marketplace in what nowadays is Switzerland date back to the 13th century and are found in Basel; slightly newer traces are found in Geneva. In the 17th century, St. Gallen was Switzerland's most important economic and trade centre, and in 1639 it introduced the first set of rules for mercantile brokers (Sensalenordnung).

	The first Swiss stock exchange was the Société des agents de change réunis, founded in Geneva in 1850. As the Swiss economy expanded during the next 60 years, the stock exchanges of Basel, Zurich, Lausanne, Bern, St. Gallen and Neuchâtel were founded. This development came to an abrupt end with the two world wars. Long after they were over, politics and the economy were still determined by nationalistic and corporate thinking.

The 1970s prepared the way for radical changes to Switzerland's established stock-exchange structures. The drivers of the change were - then as now - deregulation, automation and derivativisation.

New stock exchange environment

Dramatic turnover increases required greater stock market capacities and therefore new exchange buildings and technologies. Derivatives began their triumphant rise. Deregulation led to fierce competition for market share. The consolidation of the strongly fragmented stock exchange environment prevailed. The four smaller stock exchanges discontinued floor trading, the three larger ones replaced it with an electronic trading system. The Swiss Stock Exchange Act superseded cantonal legislation.

Internationalisation

Eurex and virt-x were founded in the course of internationalisation. Developments since have led to new areas of business, new trading segments and a significant expansion of the trading system. Regulatory tasks are becoming increasingly important to the SWX.

	A fuller account and a chronology are available on the Internet. A detailed history of the SWX Swiss Exchange is provided in Richard T. Meier and Tobias Sigrist's book Der helvetische Big Bang, which includes a comprehensive annex with statistics and tables.